Festo to bring Industry 4.0 know-how to NGM Canada supercluster

Feb. 26, 2018 – Festo says its decision to be a founding technology partner in Next Generation Manufacturing/NGM Canada – the new advanced manufacturing supercluster – is in line with its vision of being an innovation developer and catalyst locally and globally.

Globally, the German-based, family-owned solutions provider for industry strives to be a key driver in the development of Industry 4.0 concepts and products for the digitalized factory environment.

“It’s also part of our corporate vision to invest locally in each of our markets to develop and apply technologies and solutions, even beyond our customer base,” said Roger Hallett, Festo Canada president and CEO.

“The more than 130 Canadian companies and institutions partnering in NGM Canada will help spread new production technologies sooner and faster across Canadian industry than would otherwise be the case. Growing the domestic and export markets for Canadian-made products will create and sustain the manufacturing jobs of tomorrow.”

The industry-led supercluster, supported by the federal government, was officially launched this month.

Festo’s commitment to implementing advanced manufacturing concepts and technologies in the local business ecosystem is supported by the commitment of Festo Didactic, its global skills development and industrial training division, to partner with Canadian technical and training institutes. Recently, Festo Didactic announced a five-year workforce development training program with Humber College in Toronto. Students and employees of advanced manufacturing companies will receive hands-on training to learn the Industry 4.0 skills necessary to succeed in an evolving economy. The partnership includes the installation of the first Cyber Physical Factory in English Canada. A CP Factory was installed last year in Montreal as part of a similar partnership with the Centre de Recherche Industrielle du Québec (CRIQ).